hampton & richmond

[juddie]

Me and my old chap got there really early and we also spoke to budgie and Jeremy Wray. Annoyingly I didn't ask too many searching questions, but what struck me was how relaxed everybody was. Budgie got two lads on to the pitch to warm up with the lads, Mo Mo was happy to talk to all and sundry, although he looked as though he hadn't slept for some time - his eyes could piss holes in the snow! All were very friendly and happy to chat... I made the point to all that new faces are needed if we're to breach 6,000.

The game itself? Not massively convincing, but like I said to my old man, a) whatever players say, they're not going to give as much playing non-league opposition as they are teams like portsmouth and b) austria was mental. I spoke to Dick Mackey and he was saying it was a case of train in the morning, train in the afternoon (hard), then get up up, drive 3 hours to somewhere new, play a game, get up, train etc. I think the boys, while they look incredibly fit (not like that), they might also be a bit knackered.

Amankwaah was dreadful. He ran the ball out of play on one occassion. Just dreadful.

H & R had chances and I didn't feel Ifil and Kanyuka were as solid as Ifil and Aljofree. In saying that, Kanyuka does like to bring the ball out from the back and not hoof it, which is good. He will offer good competition, and then there's the big young kid (I forget his name). He's a huge bloke!

Vincent: Meh. I don't like him and he spent the game looking for his predictable little dink down the line. Did do an amazing run though, beat about 65 players before crossing to no-one.

McNamee: what more needs to be said; great dribbling, good distribution, good speed.

Timlin and McGovern: decent, but my one worry is that if easton's injured, McGovern looks likely to start in the middle, and he's no centre midfielder. He sprayed some nice passes about and we looked ok, but didn't dominate.

Marshall: hhhmmmm. Tough to call. Showed glimpses of billiance but no where near as consistent as McNamee. He's quick, skilful and direct, but would frustrate in equal measure. Better than Ricky Shakes, but maybe too light weight?

Cox: he's awesome. scored two and could have 42.

Paynter: not sure. Holds ball up well and superb with back to goal, but doesn't get in scoring positions enough for me... Played ok.

Other than that, a lovely little club and a nice summer's evening - good to watch the Reds in action again. FourFourTwo were out in force so might be some stuff on their site later this week.

A good evening but one thing's clear: we need more bodies.

But the core of the team: Brez, Ifil, McNamee and Cox look red hot.

[suttonred]

Can I be the first to be a bit worried?

... and according to the OS Hills came on for the last 30 mins??

No its wrong it was Jack Smith for Vincent, I never saw Hills there, Pook, Blair, Smith and Joyce were the subs

[suttonred]

Amankwaah was dreadful. He ran the ball out of play on one occassion. Just dreadful.

Dont agree with that he wasn't dreadful, I thought he did pretty well, always helping JPM and Marshall, and cant remember anyone going past him the whole game. Different viewpoints eh!

[Reg Smeeton]

Can I be the first to be a bit worried?

  There was a nasty case of Viorel Moldovan at Coventry in 97/98....but it moved away to more traditional grounds in Turkey.

[Batch]

Thanks for the reports Laanduners.

[Mexicano Rojo]

hills came on for vincent, i will let you off sutton they look pretty similar

well we totaly controlled the game, played good passing football to feet and looked very structured.

Brezovan, didnt really have to do much, his kicking with both feet has improved tenfold. He had no chance with the goal.

Anawanker- good going forward linked up well in good triangles with Mcgovern and Marshall, looks to play the ball on the floor. He wasnt really tested defence wise, have a feeling he might not be ideal.

Kanyuka - Fuck me hes a giant. I will put my neck on the line and say he will score at least 5 from corners ala ooh shaun taylor. won absolutely everything in the air. very very vocal, bossed the defence around, however........ a couple of major errors, a dodgy back pass that should have been punished, plus he was at fault for there goal, he went arse over tit. I can see him however starting against tranmere due to his aerial presence.

Ifil- was ifil, touches of brilliance with fucking circus like defending at times.

Vincent - now i have always been a fan of him but today he was off the pace, got caught out 5 or 6 times in first half but eventually settled down and did a maradona like run towards half time that would have been similar to the cheating argie cunt against us in 86 if it had gone in. Substituted half way through second half for Hills who looks like a jack smith clone.

Marshall - Sign him up. Showed flashes of macnamee like brilliance and he has to be the quickest player i have ever seen in a swindon shirt. swung in a couple of corking crosses that cox should have buried. He needs work on certain aspects of his play and he definately is a rough diamond but fuck me hes great to watch. The second goal was due to a rocket from 30 yards from marshall that the keeper couldnt hold on to and cox twatted it in. my man of the match.

Mcgovern - Played in the deeper centre midfield role and played very well great distribution and pairing up with...

Timlin - run marshall close for man of the match. good tackling great vision and passing and denied a goal by a blatant handball on the line. well played.

Macnamee - didnt really get the rub of the green and rather worringly limped off in the second half as he was totally clattered. not good watching him hobble round the pitchside.

Cox - constant threat. a right gobby shit. but our gobby shit:) should have had a hattrick in first half. greedy fucker. ace.

Paynter - toiled. thats the only way i can describe his performance. worked hard but not much seemed to come off.

[juddie]

comedy. three of us went, three different opinions!

That's what it's all about.

I'll give you Timlin and McGov, but I still don;t get the feeling that either could grab the scruff of a game and boss it, especially if it's niggly.

Amankwaah: I'm sticking by my guns. Yeah, he passed well when under no pressure and made himself available, but IMO he's not better than Smith, and so seemes an odd signing. Hope he proves me wrong.

Anyuka: yeah he is mahoosive and dominated in the air like aljofree. Prone to dropping the odd bollock and if paired with ifil, there'll always be a feeling they could give the ball away in a key area. BUT strong as an ox and likes to play the simple ball. Decent, very decent.

Cox looks awesome at the moment.

[Mexicano Rojo]

oh one other thing, they had a tuck shop. fucking lush. i had flying saucers, chery drops and fruit salads. and some lush white mice.

In traditional tef fashion i approached nick watkins and could have asked him about new signings plans for the future ala ground redevelopement. but i asked one question only. why havent we got a tuck shop?

he said he would look into it

[Mexicano Rojo]

Juddie i agree with all your points there, anawanker does seem a strange signing, he does however add height at defending corners.

cox is going to score lots of goals

[juddie]

The tuck shop, oh my days!!!!! first of all the food was ood, burgers and the like, I think my old man mentioned that to Jeremy Wray, but the tuck shop was immense. H & R seems a cool little club with a huge emphasis on kids, tuck shop wouldn;t go amiss along with some kind of junior robins membership or something?

[Batch]

Good to see Marshall was better than Friday. I guess as Juddie says it'll come down to whether we can have two luxury players of a similar nature in the same team.

Did nayone else other than Cox look like scoring? It does worry me how we'll cope when the opposition double up on him and McNamee.

[Mexicano Rojo]

dont worry we will score shit loads.

going up as champions

[juddie]

if plan A works we could score a hatful, but I'm worried we have no plan b. Tonight Timlin and McGov always wanted to spray it wide - better teams will cut out that supply.

And, if we play a big and aggressive team McNamee, Marshall and Timlin will go missing.

We don't yet have a player willing to gamble and get in front of the two strikers.

For me cox and cor is the front pairing, but we need one of our midfielders to gamble.

[juddie]

havin said all that, Cox will score 20+. I'm gonna put money on it. He;s not just scoring, he's looking sharper than a razor blade and he's always in scoring positions.

[Simon Pieman]

I thought Timlin was excellent against Pompey and they're a massive team who got stuck in.